


My Name is Frankenstein.

by BFHwantsblood, Olivier_Mira



Category: Noblesse (Manhwa)
Genre: Child Abuse, Child Frankenstein, Childhood, Past Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-06
Updated: 2017-11-06
Packaged: 2019-01-30 11:58:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12653121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BFHwantsblood/pseuds/BFHwantsblood, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Olivier_Mira/pseuds/Olivier_Mira
Summary: Raizel notices something is off about Frankenstein. Turns out that underneath Frankenstein’s outwardly cocky demeanor lies some painful childhood trauma.





	My Name is Frankenstein.

**Author's Note:**

> A big thank you to Olivier_Mira who tag teamed in writing this.

Raizel heard a knock at the door. It was followed by the sound of the door opening and tea being poured into a cup and placed on the table beside him as he continued to gaze out the window.   
   
It wasn’t until the door closed behind Frankenstein that Raizel started to feel like something was wrong. That something had been off about that. Something had been different from their normal routine that the blond human had started between them in the past few years. 

Normally Raizel would put it from his mind and wait for someone to come and talk to him about it, not wanting to intrude on them. It was different with Frankenstein, however. Frankenstein was his Bonded now, so it was Raizel's job to care for him.   

Raizel picked up his cup and took a sip. His lips dropped in slight disappointment. The tea had gone cold while he had been thinking. He didn’t mind Frankenstein's cold tea, though. It was still better than Urokai’s tea even when it was warm. 

The Noblesse let out a sigh as his eyes followed Frankenstein moving from the mansion into the forest. Would the human come back all cut up again or was this just a hunting trip?   
   
Another sigh left him. He was getting distracted again. Something had been wrong with their morning tea routine and he needed to figure out what it was so he could fix it.   
   
The door opening made the Noblesse come out of his reverie. He blinked and noted that the sun was setting. Dinner time then.   
   
The Noblesse turned to his Bonded. His Bonded didn’t look hurt, but there was an ache that came from him drifting through their bond.  

Frankenstein looked up from the tray he was carrying with surprise as his Master moved from the window to sit on one of the chairs. Even in his surprise, Frankenstein's body moved automatically to set up the bowls with the soup they would be having.   
   
The human’s effort to convince the Noblesse to sit and eat with him had doubled since their contract. He could feel the Noblesse now like Raizel was a part of him. Even the slightest longing that the Noblesse kept hidden from the rest of the world was discernible to Frankenstein.   
   
The Noblesse took his spot across from Frankenstein and silence filled the room as they both started eating. Both of them were trying to figure out what had caused this change in mood. 

Raizel waited for both bowls to be empty before he spoke.   
   
“Frankenstein. You are quiet.”   
   
That had been what was wrong today: it had been so quiet. It was so unlike Frankenstein to not be talking about his day or for his thoughts to be loud enough that Raizel would have no problem picking up on them. 

The blonde tilted his head slightly.   
   
_I have just been thinking._    
   
The Noblesse watched in puzzlement. His Bonded’s hands were moving in unique motions as those words drifted across the bond.   
   
What was Frankenstein trying to hide from him?   
   
“Your mind has been quiet as well.” 

'I... I had a dream about my childhood and it has left my mind preoccupied.' 

Again the Noblesse watched the hands move as those words drifted through to him.   
   
Did Frankenstein not notice that he wasn’t talking?   
   
“Is that why you are not talking right now?”   
   
Blue eyes blinked as he looked down at his hands. Frankenstein couldn’t help but smile as he saw his fingers forming the words that were still so familiar to him even after all these years.  

The blonde jumped as someone sat down beside him. Turning, he saw his Master watching him with a look that was asking if this was ok.   
   
Frankenstein found himself nodding and before he really even thought about it, he was moving into the Noblesse’s personal space to sit sideways across his Master’s lap. 

Frankenstein blushed, but before he could move, the Noblesse wrapped his arms around the human, pulling him close to his chest.   
   
“You can tell me about it if you would like to.” 

Frankenstein nodded. Taking a breath, he moved a bit to allow his hands to be free. It would be easier to talk like this. It would give his hands something to do. They began to form signs that he alone could decode: 

_old-man_  

_Started-my-family-sold-me-to-old-man_  

'It all started when my family sold me to an old man called Frederic.' 

* * *

 

The blond haired boy looked from his mother to the man they had come to see. Unlike most three-year-olds, the boy sat quietly and was quite content to listen to the grown-ups talk. 

“What makes you think that I would want your child?” The man questioned. 

The man’s hair was a light brown with flecks of white. He was tall despite being slightly hunched over. He had clearly spent too much time working over a bench.   
   
“The maids think the boy is odd and he is not like his brothers. Boy has no interest in toys and spends most of his time looking at books. He doesn’t speak so you will not have to worry about him making too much noise. If he doesn’t grow out of this, the townsfolk will start to think he’s possessed and the family doesn’t need that,” the boy’s mother replied.   
   
The man stood and walked over to one of the many shelves. He came back holding a few odd shaped blocks.   
   
Bending down, he placed them in front of the boy.   
   
“Can you make these into a square without any gaps?”   
   
The boy took a few moments to look over all the blocks before looking back at the man and nodding.   
   
“Can you show me?” 

The little hands moved slowly but surely, picking up each block and placing it in what seemed like random places until a few moments later there was a perfect square.   
   
The old man beamed.   
   
This child had done what most adults wouldn’t be able to do. Not only that, but he had done it much faster than anyone he had given this task to before.   
   
The child looked shyly up at the old man as if asking if what he did was ok.   
   
Reaching out, the man patted the kid’s head.   
   
“You did well, boy.” 

The child smiled back and the man could see the tension leave the boy. Had the child expected to get punished for doing that?   
   
The man’s eyes flicked back to the blond-haired lady.   
   
“I will take the boy off your hands, on the condition that you are to never seek him out again.”   
   
The man held out a small bag of coins, which the lady took from him as she stood. Without one backwoods glance, she strolled from the room.   
   
The boy watched her go, but didn’t stand up. Although he was still very young, he knew what had happened. He had seen people exchange those coins for items before and knew that he had been sold. 

Blue eyes locked on the man as he spoke.   
   
“Do they just call you ‘boy’?”   
   
The boy nodded once.   
   
“Well, that won’t do.” The man looked up in thought for a few moments before smiling.   
   
“Your name is now Frankenstein.”   
   
The boy now called Frankenstein moved his lips as if sounding out the word, yet not even a whisper left him. 

Frankenstein's blue eyes lit up as he nodded.   
   
“You may call me Doctor or Frederic, which ever you prefer.”   
   
Frankenstein nodded once more. He still couldn’t quite wrap his mind around it. He had a name again! He knew he must have had once before, but it had been so long since he had been called anything other than “boy” that he couldn’t remember it.   
   
“Frankenstein, let me give you a tour of your new home.”   
   
Tiny legs moved in quick steps to catch up to Frederic who held the door open. 

   

It was a week later that it first happened.   
   
Frankenstein was helping out Frederic in the laboratory. It had been a fun week of learning new things, exploring the house and not getting treated like he couldn’t understand every word being said to him.   
   
He had watched quietly as people came and saw Frederic about a number of ailments or injuries. One man had come in with a broken arm and Frankenstein had gotten to see how Frederic reset it and splinted it.   
   
What was even better was the way Frederic seemed to guess what Frankenstein wanted to know and went about explaining it or showing Frankenstein where he could get the information himself.   
   
Late in the afternoons Frankenstein could be found reading books while Frederic wrote down notes. If Frankenstein came across a word he didn’t know, he would make some kind of noise if the book was too heavy to walk with or would go directly to Frederic with the book so the man could explain the word.   
   
“Frankenstein, can you come here a moment?”   
   
Frankenstein left his book in the corner of the laboratory and moved over to Frederic. The man held something in his hand that made Frankenstein glance at it in fascination before turning his blue gaze back to Frederic.   
   
“Frankenstein, you know I would never do anything that would course you lasting pain.”   
   
Frankenstein nodded.   
   
“And you know how I am the town’s doctor. That I make things to help people.” 

Another nod.   
   
“Well, I want to give you something to keep you from getting sick, but it may make you hurt before it makes you better.” 

   
The boy tilted his head in confusion.   
   
“Like when I had to put the blacksmith’s son’s shoulder back into place. It hurt worse for a moment before it got better. This will be just like that.”   
   
The child took a breath before nodding.   
   
Frankenstein knew Frederic would never hurt him, knew that this man had seen something in him that no one else had. So this man was the least likely person to hurt him.   
   
The small blond nodded.   
   
“Good, hold out your arm.”   
   
A small arm was placed in the man’s lap. The contraption that had caught Frankenstein eye before was held to his arm.   
   
“Be brave, my boy.”   
   
Before the child could read too much into those words, the doctor was sliding the needle into Frankenstein arm and injecting the substance into him.   
   
At first Frankenstein thought nothing of the slight pain. His mother had hit him worse before. Then the burn started and he found himself making the first sound since moving into this place.   
   
Frankenstein screamed. 

  

When Frankenstein awoke, the first thing he realized was that his throat hurt, but not as much as he thought it would. His eyes blinked open and he looked up at the roof. A roof he knew to be the one above his bed.   
   
His whole body ached and his breath caught as he made himself keep quiet. If he made a noise he would bother someone and they would get mad. No one liked it when he made noise, whether it was when he asked a question or when he made a noise in pain. Both of those lead to someone telling him to shut up.   
   
“Frankenstein, you’re awake.”   
   
The boy turned his head and smiled at Frederic. Even though his body felt so heavy, he was glad to see the man.   
   
“Are you in pain?” 

Frankenstein couldn’t help but smile. This man had come to know him so well. He didn’t ask, “how are you,” because that was such a broad question and with his body like this, he just wouldn’t have the energy to make the motions to explain his answer.   
    
Frankenstein nodded and moved one hand slowly up to point at his throat.   
   
“Yes, I would imagine so. You seem to have quite good vocal cords in you.” 

Frederic moved from his spot beside the bed and picked up a cup from the table. Carefully, he helped Frankenstein sit up using one hand and held the cup to his lips. Frankenstein sipped at it, knowing better then to try down it all at once. 

Once it was all gone Frederic laid the child back.   
   
“Try and get some sleep Frankenstein. I will talk to you when you wake up.” 

Frankenstein nodded and closed his eyes letting exhaustion take him.   
   
Frederic’s kind smile grew as his blue-green eyes studied the boy. Just in these few hours since being injected, changes could already be seen. The boy’s once pale tone seemed slightly darker and almost glowed. His face had already lost some of its roundness and when Frederic had helped the boy sit up, he had felt the new muscles still somewhat soft, but they were there.   
   
It had worked and a part of Frederic couldn’t believe it. This boy would be the next step to human evolution. The main question was, how far could it be pushed? 

Frederic would have to wait a few months before trying the next part, but it was to his advantage that Frankenstein was so young. It would help his body grow into what was happening to him. 

Frederic ran a hand through the boy’s hair. Yes, his boy would become the stuff of legends. 

   
It had been three months since Frankenstein was injected and the now four-year-old boy was carrying three books that he would have considered heavy before that day with ease.   
   
This new strength had come as quite a shock to Frankenstein as the cup he had gone to grab had cracked under his newfound strength. It had taken weeks of mundane house chores to work out his increased strength and a further few weeks to perfect it. By the end of it, those mundane house chores felt like some kind of accomplishment, so he continued with them.   
   
Now he controlled his ever-growing strength with ease and found it quite helpful. Placing the three books on the small desk that had been made for him, Frankenstein went back to his notebook. His handwriting wasn’t the best. His hands did not quite have enough fine motor skills to work the letters the way he wanted. It was legible to him and that was all that mattered.   
   
For the past two weeks Frankenstein had been working on his own formula to present to Frederic. It had all started when he had found a recently dead owl. He eventually had to look through the old scrolls in the library on birds in order to identify it, but at the time, it had been fun to simply observe the way the body worked. It was just like how Frederic had shown him with drawings about human anatomy.   
   
It had given Frankenstein the idea that humans would be more able to defend themselves if they could see better at night like owls. From there Frankenstein had also thought about hearing. If people could hear better, they might hear danger coming sooner and therefore be able to get away sooner.   
   
This had lead to idea after idea. Frankenstein wrote each new idea on its own page so as not to get distracted by the second and third ideas before he finished the first idea.   
   
Frankenstein glanced over the loose pages in front of him. He had taken his time writing this out and he was looking forward to showing it to Frederic when he woke up.   
   
The blond smiled at that. It had been another good change. His body only required a few hours of sleep, which left him with more time to spend on his reading or his notes.  

  

The sound of a door closing had him moving from his desk and turning to stand. He waited there for Frederic to enter the room.   
   
“Good morning little one, did you sleep ok?”   
   
Frankenstein couldn’t help but smile at the man as he gave a small wave with his empty hand and nodded. “Little one” had become Frankenstein’s pet name ever since he woke up after being injected. It had surprised Frankenstein that he had liked it so much.   
   
“That’s good. Do you have something to show me?” 

The blonde quickly covered the distance between them and held out the papers.   
   
Frederic eyes moved over the papers and as he got further and further in, his body grow stiff, making the boy more and more nervous. Had he messed up? Was what he put down wrong?   
   
Frankenstein didn’t think it had anything to do with it being too smart for a kid, as Frankenstein’s birth parents had always said. Frederic always seemed pleased when Frankenstein showed off how smart he was. 

Frederic’s first reaction once he unfroze was to glance from the page to Frankenstein and then back to the page.   
   
“You did this all by yourself?” 

Frankenstein shrugged his shoulders. It was mostly by himself. He had needed to look over some drawings and Frederic’s notes about chemical compositions. There had also been the owl body that had given him the idea.   
   
Frankenstein was swept off his feet a moment later and he almost felt like laughing as he was spun around.   
   
“My brilliant little one. You are the most amazing person I have ever met!”   
   
He was set back down on the ground and Frederic ruffled his hair.   
   
“How about we go start making this?”   
   
Frankenstein nodded.     

  

Three weeks later, blue eyes snapped open as Frankenstein awoke. A hand was resting on top of his. He made his aching body turn his head to look over at Frederic.   
   
He wondered how long he had been out this time. The room was still light, so it had either been a few hours or a few days.   
   
He moved his hand slowly out from Frederic’s larger hand and ever so gently touched Frederic’s shoulder.   
   
Frederic startled from his sleep, those blue green eyes gazing over Frankenstein.   
   
“Hello, little one. Just give me a moment and I will light a candle.”   
   
That puzzled Frankenstein for a moment.   
   
Wasn’t there already enough light in here? No, Frederic wouldn’t waste candles for no reason, so it had to have worked.   
    
Frederic came back that moment, but instead of being glad to see the man, all Frankenstein could feel was blinding pain in his eyes. He turned his head at once and his hands shot up to cover his eyes, trying to make the pain go away. He felt his eyes water as they tried to wash away the irritation.   
   
“Frankenstein.” 

The man hands found Frankenstein’s hair and the Frankenstein could almost feel Frederic’s brain working to figure out what was wrong.   
   
“Was the light too bright?” 

Frankenstein nodded a little. The pain was subsiding slowly, but he still didn’t want to chance looking up so soon.   
   
There was the sound of a breath leaving the man before he spoke once more.   
   
“Ok, the candles out now, you should be fine to look when you are ready.” 

The child took a deep breath before dropping his arms and blinking his eyes open. They didn’t hurt as much and he could feel the pain subsiding. Turning, he looked up at the man kneeling beside his bed.   
   
He could make out every feature.   
   
“Since I can’t see you very well, we are going to have to play this like a game. Can you touch the top of one of my ears?”   
   
Frankenstein complied. 

“The tip of my nose.”   
   
Again Frankenstein did.   
   
“The freckle on my cheek.”   
   
Frankenstein couldn’t help but smile at the lone freckle on Frederic pale cheek as he reached out to touch it.   
   
The man beamed at Frankenstein as he whispered, “Amazing. You are so amazing my little one.” 

  

Four years later. 

Frankenstein was tall for his age and also well-built, so he was often mistaken for a child of twelve. His day were very busy as well, his morning started only two hours after the end of the previous day. He would wash up and get dressed in loose clothes before for heading to the laboratory and working on whatever he had been working on the night before.   
   
When the first hints of light could be seen through the window, he would get to a point where he could finish up before heading from the house and going off to see the warriors or hunters of the town, depending on how he felt that day.     
   
If he went to the warriors, he would have fun sparing and training with the men. All the men had laughed at first when he had tried his best to use them for what he wanted. To trade training with them in return for fixing whatever small injuries they got during that time.   
   
All it had taken was for him to have one of them pinned with a knife to his throat for him to earn their respect. He had also learned that it was to his advantage to be underestimated. 

If he went with the hunters, he would have the job of leading them to their pray. The hunters had a joke between them, calling him their little ghost, because he made next to no noise. They were always friendly to him as he seemed to have knack for leading them in the right direction.  

Frankenstein always smiled to himself at that. It wasn’t hard to lead them towards prey when he could hear the animals moving or calling to each other from miles away.   
   
After that he would head back to the house and wash off all the grime of the day before. He would then make breakfast and take it to Frederic who by this time would be in the laboratory or seeing to a patient. Then Frankenstein would either help out there or move back to his own work.   
   
Later that night he would make dinner and clean the house. Cleaning was good practice for moving fast while still making himself be careful of his strength. 

After that he would check on the medical equipment to make sure they had enough of everything. He would then make what was needed or go out and gather what was low.   
   
After that he would always go see Frederic.   
   
Entering the door, Frankenstein smiled at the sight of the man who had raised him the last four years. Moving over, he tapped Frederic on the shoulder to get his attention.   
   
Blue-green eyes turned to meet his.   
   
Frankenstein’s hands moved in a familiar motion. 

_Time-sleep._  

The man laughed and ruffled Frankenstein’s shoulder length blonde hair.   
   
“Is it that time already, little one?” 

 Frankenstein smiled and nodded. 

“That formula we worked on today looks good. If you are up for it, we can make it for you when you are ready.”   
   
Once again Frankenstein moved his hands in quick motions. 

_Good-make-tomorrow-night._  

“Sounds good.”   
   
After a quick hug goodnight, they both went off to their separate rooms to sleep.   
   
It was only an hour later that Frankenstein heard the scream. It made the child jolt from his bed and dash through the house in a blur to Frederic’s room. The man was still sound asleep, a peaceful look on his face.   
   
In the few seconds Frankenstein stood frozen there, he heard two more screams.   
   
Carefully he shook the man’s shoulder. Frederic came away and blinked up at him.   
   
“Frankenstein. Fetch a candle and tell me what’s wrong.”   
   
Frankenstein was quick to move through the house and use the dying fire to light a candle before moving back to the room. He almost dropped the candle when he flinched at another scream.   
   
Placing the candle on the bed side table the boy took a breath before signing. 

_Town-scream-I-need-look._  

“Ok, do you want me to come with you?”   
   
Frankenstein was shaking his head before Frederic had even finished speaking. 

_Stay-Safe_  

“I will. Take your sword and go, my brave boy. Don’t be scared to use everything you have to make sure you come back to me.” 

Frankenstein nodded once more before moving in a blur. First he grabbed his sword from next to his bed and strapped it across his back. Then he was out of the house heading for the town that was a minute’s sprint away.   
   
Before he had even made it halfway there, he could smell the blood and hear the screams that seemed to ring in his head.   
   
Humans and animals were not all that different. Living with Frederic meant that he had seen death before, but there was something that made his heart beat hard in his chest at the thought of seeing the townsfolk dead.   
   
_What was happening? Were bandits raiding them?_    
   
Frankenstein knew it wasn’t bandits when he saw the first body. Throat torn out, having bled to death or choked on her own blood. That was all he allowed his mind to take from that scene. 

It was around the next corner that he finally understood what was happening. A monster of a man had his teeth locked onto a woman’s throat and Frankenstein could hear the man swallowing her blood.   
   
_Vampires_ , his mind supplied for him. Quickly he went through all he had ever read and it didn’t look promising. None of the books were ones he trusted. But in all of them, one thing worked: decapitation.   
   
He heard the woman’s heart beat stopping, so he didn’t hesitate to swing his sword with all his strength right through the man’s neck. 

Frankenstein smiled at the small victory of taking one of them down as the body dropped. He didn’t bother to slow down, just used his ears to listen for the sounds of screams as his feet moved quickly down the path.   
   
The vampires fell quickly, as they were not even focused on him, too busy sucking the blood from whomever they had bitten. The ones that did look at him started taking a breath to laugh at him, but in between one breath and the next their head would be falling to the ground.   
   
The streets were covered in blood, which made Frankenstein have to watch where he was placing his feet so he didn’t slip.   
   
His body was growing heavy. Exhaustion was starting to set in as he took down his tenth vampire. The screams were dying off. Either there were only one or two more vampires or the vampires were running out of people.   
   
Frankenstein hoped it was the former.   
   
It turned out that luck was on Frankenstein’s side. The next vampire was stupid enough to lunge at him, which made it very easy to remove his head with a swing of his sword. At the sound of the body falling to the ground, the place fell quiet. Not another scream was heard.   
   
He waited a few minutes, all his focus on listening for the faintest sound. When none came, he started his sprint back home. He needed to get home and get Frederic and their medical equipment. There were bound to be people who were hurt and a person covered in blood would not be reassuring to them right now. 

Something made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as he opened the door. He knew what it was in his next breath. Blood, Frederic’s blood. 

He was still moving even as his brain was trying to process what he was seeing.   
   
Frederic was on the ground and a lady was sitting next to him. Frederic’s bloody wrist was in her hand and blood covered her smiling face.   
   
The smile dropped as Frankenstein closed the distance between them quicker than even he thought possible. Her mouth went to form words, but before even the first syllable left her lips, his sword was going through her neck.   
   
The man Frankenstein had come to care about more than life itself was in his arms before her head hit the ground. 

Frederic was pale and already was feeling so much colder than he was meant to. 

“Frankenstein.” The man gasped out.   
   
Frankenstein nodded and tried to smile through his tears.   
   
“I am sorry little one, but I am afraid we don’t have much time.” 

The man coughed before continuing.   
   
“Their bite is infectious. I can feel it working inside me.”   
   
Now that Frankenstein was looking, he could see the red flicks in those normally blue-green eyes.   
   
_No_. He couldn’t do his. He couldn’t lose the only true family he had known. 

“I know. And I wish you didn’t have to, but I would rather die a man than become one of those things.” 

Frankenstein nodded and moved them both so that he was kneeling while Frederic was sitting up. He placed his lips right next to the man he had come to love’s ear.  His voice was rough from not being used in the last five years.   
   
“I love you, Father.”  

The crack of bones moving the wrong way rang through the house. 

* * *

Frankenstein didn’t notice that he had come back to the present time, only that his hands were shaking so badly that it was getting hard for him to sign. He tried to remember what Frederic had taught him to do when this happened.   _Show me your words, little one._ Then he would hold his larger palm up against Frankenstein’s smaller one, and Frankenstein would sign one letter at a time…   _H. E. L. P. M. E._  

Except this time, the hand against his was far too delicate to be Frederic’s. Frederic had a working man’s hand, a scientist’s hand, rough from spilled chemicals and calloused from impatiently grasping boiling flasks. The hand against his was smooth as silk, fingers long and thin, a gentleman’s hand. Yet despite their slenderness, the gentleman’s hands were strong as steel as they intertwined with Frankenstein’s to stop the shaking. 

_Master._  

**_Frankenstein. Breathe. Just breathe with me._ **  

The tremors moved from his hands through his entire body, but Raizel was strong, his arms encircling Frankenstein, letting him shake, a trauma response centuries delayed. No one had been there for that eight-year-old child who had had to murder his foster father to save him from an even crueler fate. No one had been there to mourn with him. No one had been there to help bury the body. Frankenstein had been completely alone. 

**_But you’re not alone. Not anymore._ **  

Gasping for breath and trying in vain to stop shaking, Frankenstein realized with horror that his grasping hands had become clawed. 

_Master! I’m sorry! I’m so-_  

**_Frankenstein. It’s okay. Let it move through you. Don’t you see? This is the Darkness from whence the Dark Spear was born._ **  

As if on cue, the demonic voices of the Dark Spear began raising their Hell’s Chorus of taunts. But Raizel’s eyes flashed red and they immediately dissipated, chastised. Frankenstein clung to his Master and tried to breathe, panting. 

**_It’s okay. It’s okay, love. Just breathe._ **  

It had been years since Frankenstein had thought about any of this, but somehow allowing his Master to witness those events through their bond had brought it all back with crystal clarity. He remembered the feeling of the ground suddenly disappearing beneath his feet when the only person who had ever cared for him was suddenly gone. Of being that child left alone, naked, exposed to the elements, with absolutely nothing between himself and the raw, terrifying world. 

But now, now his Master was here, his kind, loving Master, sending his soothing energy across their bond, his strong arms wrapped tightly around him… almost too tightly. Frankenstein raised his head to see Raizel’s eyes still burning bright crimson. 

“Master… you’re angry.” 

“Not with you, love.” 

Raizel brushed his knuckles softly against Frankenstein’s cheek, tracing his lips with his thumb, following with a gentle kiss. Frankenstein leaned in, not wanting their lips to part. He could feel Raizel’s fingertips soothingly stroking his ears. His Master knew everything he loved. His Master would never abandon him. His Master would never hurt hi- 

Suddenly Raizel pulled back, his red eyes shimmering fiercely. “Frankenstein. You   _know_ this, yes? For certain. I would never hurt you. I swear to you. I would never, ever cause harm to you. Not knowingly.” 

Frankenstein’s blue eyes became oceans, overflowing. “M-Master! Of course, of course I- I mean, why would you even think-?” 

“Because he was your Master and he   _hurt_ you. And you were too young to know that it was wrong. And you equated that with love, but it’s   _not._ ” He grasped Frankenstein’s shoulders, his pained ruby eyes bleeding sincerity. “Frankenstein. All those things that you did for him, you do for me. But I would   _never_ treat you like that, using you for my own twisted purposes. Please tell me you understand that. I cannot bear it if you do not.   _Please._ ” 

_Master._ Frankenstein pressed their foreheads together, silent tears running down his cheeks.   _Yes. Yes, I understand. I know it to be true. I know it in the very depth of my being._  

Raizel wrapped his hands around the back of Frankenstein’s neck and pressed them even closer. They spent several moments like this, just breathing each other in. Then to Frankenstein’s astonishment, something completely unexpected happened: Raizel shuddered in his arms. He pulled back in alarm. 

“Master! Are you all right?” 

Raizel was looking intently at Frankenstein in a way that he had never seen before: it was almost a wild look, fearful, pleading. He then did the last thing Frankenstein was expecting: he bit his own lip, dripping red blood. “Frankenstein. By my blood I swear to you. Harm will never come to you by my hand.” 

Their lips crashed together, causing their bond to catch fire and at once Frankenstein was swept away. A crimson wave washed over him, glistening reds of a thousand shades and Frankenstein was   _drunk._ How had he never realized how amazingly beautiful Cadis Etrama di Raizel really, truly was? This was his Master’s pure essence and it was absolutely breathtaking to behold. 

He found himself floating, completely at peace, being caressed by what felt like the softest of blankets. It was like being a child again, in his little bed in Frederic’s house, except this time, there would be no pricks from needles, no waking up to sickness and chills. This time, he was completely safe, wrapped in the softest down, the most silken of feathers, his Master’s own bright red wings. 

**_Frankenstein. I promise to do everything in my power to keep you safe._ **  

Frankenstein started crying in earnest then, his fists clinging to Raizel’s lovely crimson feathers, swaddled like a baby in velvety softness. He cried for that tiny child who got ground up by the gears of life and never had time for tears. He cried for his former Master and the only father he ever had, despite his shortcomings. He cried for those 820 years he spent alone, convinced that all he deserved was pain and abandonment. 

**_That’s not true. It was never true. You deserve nothing but love. You always did._ **  

Frankenstein looked up, dazed. He was leaning on his Master’s shoulder, lying in bed, and Raizel’s great red wings were still unfurled, surrounding them. He reached out and ran his hand along the leading edge of his left wing, amazed. “Master. I’ve never seen your wings outside of the battlefield. They are exquisite.” 

Raizel responded by curling his left wing inward, gathering Frankenstein closer to him. Still in child mode, Frankenstein stretched out his hands for Raizel’s other wing, making soft whimpering noises. Soon he was safe and sound, enfolded in his Master’s arms   _and_ his wings.   _Safe._  

It hit him all at once how exhausted he was, having been plagued by nightmares the past few nights. Sleep had been eluding him. 

_Master?_  

**_Yes, my Bonded?_ **  

_Does it… does it hurt you to unfurl your wings? Does it expend too much energy? Because I-_  

**_Frankenstein. We can do this any time you wish._ **  

_Are you sure?_  

**_Frankenstein. Shhhhhhh._ **  

Raizel fluffed his wings, causing Frankenstein to nestle in even closer to his Master. 

**_The answer is yes. Sleep._ **  

_Yes, Master._  

With that he curled up under his Master’s soft wings and slept soundly for the first time in a very, very long time. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all, sorry i haven't posted in a while, but i hope to get back into posting more Noblesse Fanfictions in under two weeks.


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